Think Twice Before Recycling Black Plastic
Throwing black take-out containers in the trash can? Unfortunately, there is a chance that they end up in our landfills, despite your efforts.
We often think of our wastebasket as a one-stop container for all of our plastic materials (someone will sort it out, won’t they?). Unfortunately, this is not always the case for all things made from black plastic, and Ian Brady is from recyclable materials.
In the recycling industry, black plastic is known to be difficult to dispose of due to its color. Scanners on plants by recycling reflect infrared light through the camera to distinguish one from another plastic. Because black plastic absorbs light rather than reflecting it, it ends up unsorted and accidentally ends up in landfills.
Recycling black plastic can also be an incredibly costly process, and since it can only be recycled into other black plastic materials , as opposed to plastic in other colors, this does not always justify the sorting effort required.
What kind ofproducts are you talking about? Well, pretty much everything about carbon black, a pigment used in black plastics due to its durability. Think about sushi trays, DVD boxes, or coffee cup lids.
A number of local roadside recycling programs in the US have either stopped accepting black plastic or simply thrown it in the trash, including in Burbank and San Francisco , California (cities in the UK and Canada are also facing material problems of their own).
Worse, this plastic pollution presents a range of environmental and potential consumer health concerns. In the UK, e-waste is used to make black plastic (uh-huh). A 2018 study by British researchers found that toxic chemicals like lead can contaminate this plastic, posing a huge health risk when processed into food containers.
Is this a US problem? Well, it depends on where you live (some objects can be sorted manually, which causes another problem of time and serious inconvenience).
I spoke with a spokesman for the New York City Department of Sanitation, who noted that New York does usually accept hard plastics, but not specifically name black plastics (we asked for clarification and will be updated if we get a response).
So what can you do to fix the black plastic problem? It goes without saying that using fewer black plastic materials (and plastic in general) is the best way to contribute. Contact your curbside recycling program by searching the internet for a local program in your area and asking specifically if they accept black plastic (and what process is used to do this) so that you can help a local business that you are sure will send get the plastic in the right place. And of course, if you want to dispose of the takeout container, be sure to rinse it with water before transferring it to a pavement care program.